This invention relates to a clothes hanger rod attachment for use in combination with wire shelves. The hanger rod attachment is comprised of a hanger rod, a spacer rod, and a plurality of support brackets that allow uninterrupted sliding of garment hangers along the hanger rod.
Clothes hangers typically have hooks for suspending the hanger from a rod. It is commonly recognized that clothes hangers should be freely slidable on the rod. This free and uninterrupted slidability is desirable so that the hangers may be slid along the rod as hangers are added to and removed from the rod as well as to view the clothes.
In the past, this slidability has been accomplished with relatively large diameter wooden rods or metal pipes supported at their ends. However, longer rods and pipes require that brackets supporting the rod be attached to the rod intermediate its opposite ends to prevent sagging, but these support brackets interfere with the free slidability of the hangers. These prior art rods also have the disadvantage of being relatively expensive.
More recently, wire shelves with integral clothes hanger rods have been developed. However, the small diameter of the wire shelf hanger rods requires support brackets be spaced along the hanger rod to prevent the rod from sagging. These brackets interfere with the free slidability of clothes hangers on the rod. Still more recently, wire shelves have been developed with rod support brackets which are configured so as not to interfere with the slidability of clothes hangers. Unfortunately, replacing existing wire shelving with this improved shelving is very expensive.
In order to solve these and other problems in the prior art, the present invention provides an inexpensive and convenient-to-install hanger rod attachment formed of wire support brackets and rods welded together. The hanger rod attachment may be removably attached to existing wire shelves by a plurality of the support brackets which hook over the two transverse wire shelf rods commonly provided along the front of wire shelving. Because the clothes hanger rod, like the transverse shelf rods, has a relatively small thickness, the support brackets are spatially arranged along the length of the hanger rod to prevent the hanger rod from sagging. With a proper number of support brackets suspended from the shelf and welded to the clothes hanger rod, many clothes hangers can be hung from the clothes hanger rod with minimal sagging of the hanger rod.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a transverse hanger rod for hanging clothes hangers, a plurality of support brackets for suspension of the rod below the wire shelving, and a second spacer rod for rigidity and maintenance of the spacing of the support brackets. The support brackets have integral upper and lower hook sections. As a matter of function, the upper hooks are narrower than the lower hook sections. The lower hook section is positioned rearward and downward from the hanger rod and the end of the lower hook section is welded to the hanger rod. This configuration permits clothes hangers to slide across the hanger rod past the support brackets without being obstructed by them. For rigidity, the spacer rod is welded to the upper hook sections near the intersection of the upper and lower hook sections. The open end of the upper hook section extends downward to permit easy connection to wire shelving which are well-known in the art. Together, the upper and lower hook sections form a continuous stem of the support bracket that is preferably formed from a single bent wire.
Several other advantages of the current invention may not be as readily apparent. For instance, the attachment does not require fasteners of any type which results in a quick conversion without the need for tools. Also, the spacing of the brackets permits connection to both wide web and narrow web wire shelving configurations. Unlike larger dimensioned rods, the attachment of the present invention can be easily cut with a pair of pliers, rather than cut with a saw, to a length making installation more convenient. Finally, the hanger rod is spaced forward of the upper hook contact points so as to prevent the attachment from rattling during use.
While the principal advantages and features of the present invention have been briefly described above, a greater understanding of the novel and unique features of the invention may be attained by referring to the drawings and Description Of The Preferred Embodiment which follow.